David Daskal set the pace with a nail-biter of a story about a man's last thoughts as he goes down in a fiery plane crash, followed by Christine Simokaitis, who read three interconnected short stories about dying and living and the patron saint of hypochondria. Co-host Andrew Huff took his topical haiku hyper-local by commenting on Mark the bartender's pasta dinner, and then we were all tickled by an excerpt from Leah Thomas's upcoming YA novel about a boy allergic to electricity and his penpal... who is electric.
We took a breather. We drank some drinks, thanks to Mark's swift, booze-pouring hands.
Co-host Eden Robins ranted about the Muppet Babies cartoon, and then Britt Julious had us all rapt as she talked about harassment, black female bodies, and self-confidence. And, finally, we rounded out the evening with Hannah Gamble's funny, bittersweet poems about women and sex and being vs. nothingness.
It was a doozy of a doozy. Doozies all the way down. We laughed, we cried, we bit our fingernails, we ate mussels cooked in Belgian beer. And we'll do it all again on September 2nd, with illustrious guests Scott Smith, Ryan DiGiorgi, Anne Holub, Jasmine Davila, and Holly McDowell.
